Trapped at kitchen table

When households are forced to spend two-thirds of their income on food and electricity, the economy is no longer about growth. It is about survival. The latest Household Integrated Economic Survey confirms that living in Pakistan has become an exercise merely in staying afloat.

Food alone now absorbs more than a third of household spending. Another quarter goes into housing, electricity and gas. Together, these basic needs consume 63% of total expenditure. This is the direct result of prolonged inflation and policy choices that have steadily raised the cost of essentials. Incomes have risen on paper. They have not kept pace in reality. While average monthly earnings have increased over the past six years, household spending has risen faster. What families gain in nominal income is eroded by higher prices.

The purchasing power of the rupee continues to shrink. The real damage shows up in what households can no longer afford. Spending on education has dropped to just 2.5%. It is now less than half the cost of housing and utilities. Health and recreation together make up barely a few percentage points. A society that cuts back on learning and well-being is paying for stability today by mortgaging its future.

This is not resilience. It is fragility disguised as coping. What can be done? First, stabilising the cost of food and power must become an economic priority, not an afterthought. Second, inflation control must move beyond interest rates. Supply-side failures in food markets need fixing. And third, education and health spending need insulation from economic shocks. Household budgets are under siege. If policy continues to treat survival as an acceptable equilibrium, the long-term costs will be far greater than today's fiscal discomfort.